


Fallout, Part One

by Emma



Series: Fallout [1]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-09
Updated: 2012-08-09
Packaged: 2017-11-11 19:12:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 4,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/481909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emma/pseuds/Emma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is Series 3 Fix-it Fic. I dreamed this. It embarrasses me, because, dammit, in my personal canon, Series 3 didn’t happen!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

            “Hello, Jack.”

            The man who had once called himself Jack Harkness set down his glass very, very carefully.  “Got a job for me, Doc?”

            “What makes you think that?”

            “Because that’s the only time you want to see me.”

            “Not quite. Though by the time I had it all figured out you had moved on.” The Time Lord plopped down on the bar stool next to Jack’s. “But I do need you.”

            “Sorry, Doc. I’m no longer for hire. Make a lousy hero anyway. People keep on getting killed.”

            “Jack…”

            “No, Doc.”

            “At least listen. Then, if you want me to go, I will.” The Doctor grabbed Jack’s glass and tossed back the last of the booze. “Whoah. That’s just disgusting, Jack. Your stomach lining is sloughing off as we speak... Oh, all right, don't give me that look. It’s the TARDIS. Something is blocking her from landing on Earth.”

            Jack shrugged. “That might be a good thing, Doc. Every time you or I show up on Earth terrible things happen to innocent people.”

            “Jack…”

            “Perhaps you should let me try, Doctor.”

            The Doctor swiveled to look at the new arrival. Jack, on the other hand, kept his back firmly turned and signaled to the bartender for another drink.

            “It must be Old Home Week somewhere. What do you want, John?”

            A hand holding a photograph entered his field of vision. Jack glanced at it casually – then sat up, grabbing for it like a drowning man grabs at a life preserver.

            “What the hell is this?”

            “You tell me. He says his name is Ifan. His first memory is of waking up in some sort of medical facility. He has been extensively… improved, I suppose you could say. He says he can’t remember anything, but when he managed to escape he made a beeline for Cardiff and the Hub.”

            The man in the photograph was Ianto Jones.


	2. Chapter 2

            “So you’re Torchwood now?”

             “Gwen tracked me down and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” Hart looked around curiously. “So this is the TARDIS. Do you always pet it like that?”

             “It is a she and she likes it. So, Gwen got you out of jail and blackmailed you into honest work. I would have thought she would want nothing more to do with Torchwood after…”

             “She didn’t have much of a choice. The government made a complete cockup of the reconstruction. Sent in a bunch of suits from Torchwood London who pissed off everyone from the mayor to the pensioners in Splott. It got ugly real fast. Finally someone with some common sense crawled up the Cooper-Williams drive and begged her to step in.”

             “And the baby?”

             “Kyna? Pretty girl. She’s five now.”

             “She named her after Toshiko.” Jack smiled. “The names mean more or less the same.”

             “There’s a boy also. Two. His name is Ieuan. Rhys says between Jack, Ianto, and  John, what’s one more version.” John poked at one of the panels in the main console and got a mild electric shock for his trouble. “All right, I get the idea. No touching. Jack…aren’t you going to ask?”

             “I held Ianto’s body as he died. I saw him buried in his family churchyard. Whoever that is, he isn’t Ianto.”

             “That’s just it, Jack. Every test we ran says he is.”  John touched Jack’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m thirty-three kinds of bastard, but I wouldn’t hurt you this way if I didn’t think it was important.”

             “Then what aren’t you telling me?”

              “He’s dancing around the concept of cloning, Jack.” The Doctor emerged from the corridor leading to his private quarters. “Right, Mr. Hart?”

             “Yes.”

             Jack’s hands tightened around the console railing until his knuckles stood out white against the skin. “Someone cloned Ianto.”

             “Maybe others. Ifan remembers other _patients_ at the facility.”

             The Doctor punched in a sequence on the main control board. “All right, gentlemen. The TARDIS is still blocked from landing on Earth, so one of you is going to have to carry me along.”

             “You’re coming, Doc?”

             “Jack. Think. Whoever is doing this knows you would do anything to get Ianto back, and they also know I’m probably the only person who could stop you from doing whatever it is they want. If they don’t want me on Earth, I have to be there.”


	3. Chapter 3

            “He’s very different.”

             Gwen rested her forehead on Jack’s shoulder. “He’s his own person. It’s the only thing that makes it bearable.”

             “I think I like the ponytail and beard look. The muscles don’t hurt, either.” His attempt at behaving like his old self ended in a sob. “Gwen, what’s he like?”

             “Crisp. Abrupt. No shadows or secrets.” Gwen wiped her eyes. “Excels at all forms of combat, armed or unarmed. Learns incredibly fast. Adapts and improvises even faster.”

             “The perfect soldier.”

             “That’s what John thinks.” She went back to her desk, leaving Jack standing by the glass wall, looking down at Ifan and the Doctor. “Here’s his full report. He’s the one who insisted we get you back.”

             “You didn’t want me back, Gwen?”

             She hesitated briefly. “Last week Andy and I were having an argument about something. Ifan made a smartarse crack and rolled his eyes at us. For a moment it was like having Ianto back and it hurt so much I nearly burst into tears.”

             “Gwen…”

             “At first, I would have done anything to have you back. But I had time to think. You paid for the human race’s survival with your blood and your heart, Jack. What right do we have to ask you for more?” She rubbed her knuckles over her eyes. “Martha tried to call the Doctor but couldn’t get through.”

             “So I’m your last resort.” Maybe he should have been angry, but all Jack could feel was gratitude. “I like what you’ve done here. You’ve built a good team.”

             “It was touch and go for a while.”

             “John told me. Recruiting locals would have gone a long way to soothe folk. Although Kathy Swanson was kind of a surprise.”

             “Andy helped me convince her. I think she has ambitions to take over Torchwood London and clean out the muck.”

             “I wonder if she’ll want any help.”

             They grinned at each other.

             “I’ll move back to my own workstation today.” Gwen said. “We’ll need to get you introduced around. There are some…”

             Jack raised his hand to stop the flow. “No. I’ll only be here for a long as it takes to straighten out this mess. You’re the head of Torchwood Cardiff and that’s as it should be.”


	4. Chapter 4

            “What is that?”

            The Doctor aimed a stream of blue light at Ifan’s eye. “It’s a sonic screwdriver. Useful little thing. Won’t hurt you. Just running a few tests.”

            “Sometimes it seems that’s all I’ve known since…”

            “Since what?”

            The young man shrugged. “I was going to say since the day I was born, but I don’t remember ever being a child.”

            “What’s the first thing you remember?”

            “Cold. I was in a… nutrient tank… and they were fishing me out. There was a woman there. All I can remember of her is long red nails and a big, ugly signet ring.”

            “That’s a bad memory. What else?”

            “Not much else. I spent most of the time training. And being tested.”

            “Boring sort of life.” The Doctor made some adjustments to the sonic screwdriver and aimed it at Ifan again. “Was that why you left?”

            “It wasn’t that… they were trying to do something… wrong. Very wrong.  I knew I had to tell… someone.” He shook his head. “He would know what to do.”

            “He who?”

            Ifan growled with frustration. “I don’t know!”

            The Doctor made soothing noises as he put away the screwdriver. “All right, don’t force it. It’ll come to you when you least expected.”

            Ifan put back his t-shirt. “Doctor… what’s he like?”

            “Who? The Doctor’s look of innocence wilted under the young man’s level stare. “Why do you want to know?”

            “I’m not a fool, Doctor, and I have very sharp hearing. And,” he said with a wicked little smile, “mainframe likes me.”

            “Ah. He is… brilliant. Utterly and completely brilliant. And lonely.”

            “You love him.”

            This time the Doctor did not pretend to misunderstand. “Oh, yes. So did Ianto.”


	5. Chapter 5

          “Anything you want to tell us, Doc?”

            The Doctor eyes were bleak. “John was right. Ifan’s DNA comes from Ianto Jones. But that’s only the beginning. Whoever cloned him did extensive modifications using a second set of genes. Probably a third of his DNA has been altered and there are signs that if he hadn’t run there would have been more done.”

            “Could we sort out who the other DNA belongs to?” Gwen asked.

            “In most circumstances, no. This wasn't just a matter of splicing in a new sequence, the changes are much more intrinsic than that. This time, though…” The Doctor looked at John. “You knew.”

            “Yeah. That’s why I insisted we find one of you. I wanted a second opinion.”

            Ifan rapped sharply on the table. “Could the rest of us get enlightened, please?”

            “It’s alien DNA, Ifan. Some of the most alien I’ve ever seen.” John tapped his wrist band. "And the Time Agency database could not identify it."

            Andy whistled. “So that’s why you pressed the panic button. But Ifan looks perfectly normal!”

            “Not every alien looks like a weevil, Andy.” Jack’s voice was dreadful in its evenness. “Whose DNA, Doc? And don’t tell me you don’t know. You look like the weight of the world has landed on you again.”

            “It’s Time Lord DNA, Jack.”

            “But you’re the only… No. No. No. No. No.”

            “I’m sorry, Jack.”

            “He’s dead. We burned him to dust on that beach.”

            “I know. But Ifan is carrying his DNA.” The bewildered look in the Doctor’s face made everyone in the room uneasy. “He must have planned it even while he believed he would win.”

            “You said if I hadn’t run they would have kept changing me,” Ifan said. “Until what?”

            The Doctor took a deep breath and seemed to shake whatever haunted him. “Until you could carry a Time Lord’s consciousness, Ifan. Some of those things you remember as tests were actually conditioning your mind to accept its own destruction.”

            “It couldn’t have been very good conditioning,” Kathy objected. “Ifan ran.”

            “They made a mistake. A Time Lord cannot enter an undeveloped mind. The easiest way to handle that is to activate some portion of the clone’s original personality and memory and use it to develop its new consciousness. Ifan shows three periods in which he was, to some degree, Ianto. The last one was a week before he escaped. Ianto must have found a way to plant a message in Ifan’s subconscious.” The Doctor laughed. “The plan came to pieces because the Master underestimated Ianto Jones.”


	6. Chapter 6

            “Any results?”

            “Not at this end,” Andy said. “Except for the spooky factor of finding out you’ve lived through the near-destruction of the Earth and forgot all about it.”

            Jack grinned at him. “The alternative would have sucked, Andy.”

            “Yeah. I kind of figured that out.” Andy’s workstation beeped softly and he turned to look at the display. “Now that’s odd.”

            “What is it?”

            “I’ve had mainframe running some cross-references with the Valiant files you gave us access to, and it’s pinging a Professor Docherty. Someone you know?”

            “Only by name. Why is mainframe pointing us to her?”

            “I asked her to look for people appearing in the Valiant files who also were currently involved in any sort of genetic research.” Andy entered a new query into his keyboard. “Professor Docherty taught at University of London until six years ago, when her son was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Soon after that she joined the Lazarus Corporation, a medical research group created after…”

            “After I put LazLabs out of business,” the Doctor said. “It was LazLabs that created the technology the Master used to age me, Jack. They would be familiar with Time Lord DNA.”

            At the terminal opposite Andy’s, Kathy Swanson did a little victory dance. “Does anyone in this room believe in coincidences?”

            “Not bloody likely,” Andy retorted.

            “Good. Rumor has it that both UNIT and Torchwood London have been researching the Doctor for decades. Secret projects of all kinds. The thing is, both UNIT and Torchwood have to submit budget requests to the government or the Crown, so I started to look for funding items that seemed not quite the thing.”

            “And you found it?”

            “Right there in the open. Bastards are very sure of themselves. For the past six years, Torchwood London has funded research at the Lazarus Corporation for, and I quote, _the study of extraterrestrial organisms and their effects on human DNA_.”

            “And the justification?” Jack asked.

            “ _After repeated attacks from alien races it is imperative to develop possible mechanisms of defence against viral, bacterial, or toxemic attack_.” She made a face. “You have to hand it to them. It’s a logical proposal.”

            “How much have they funneled through?”

            “Twenty-five million pounds every year for the last five years. They have some very, very strong supporters in Parliament.”

            “All right, then. Now we know who we’re up against…”

            “Jack.”

            “Yes, Doc?”

            “Andy and I have been looking at the Lazarus Corporation’s website. All full of good stuff about the vaccines they have developed and the charitable work they do. They’re especially proud of their chairman. Lady Lucy Saxon.”


	7. Chapter 7

             “Everyone is gone.”

             “I know.” Jack set down the papers he was reading. “You should get some rest too.”

             “I don’t sleep much.” Ifan stepped into the office. “Was this your office before?”

             “No. The Hub had to be rebuilt after the explosion and Gwen took the chance to make some modifications. This would have been the greenhouse.” He patted the TARDIS coral on the desk. “I am amazed this survived.”

             “The coral is spatially and temporally sensitive. It would have phased out… How did I know that?”

             “The Doctor said they were conditioning you to accept the Master’s consciousness. Maybe some of it involved giving you information about Time Lord culture and society. TARDIS are at the very center of it.”

             “I suppose…. Do you miss him?”

             Jack closed his eyes briefly. “More than you can ever imagine.”

             Ifan moved to sit on the edge of the desk, facing Jack. “I’m not him.”

             “I know. I don’t expect you to be.”

             “But…”

             “It’s hard.” Jack made a half-hearted gesture at the other man. “This… coming into the office, sitting on my desk like that… Ianto used to do that all the time. Late at night. We would sit in the office and talk.”

             Ifan raised an eyebrow. “Or not talk?”

             Jack smiled. “Or not talk.”

             “So I keep on reminding you of him. It happens with Gwen too. She thinks I don’t notice, but she’s not very good about hiding her emotions.”

             “No. Practically a semaphore, our Gwen.”

             “I have flashes of memory…” The admission seemed torn out of him. “Even before I met the two of you. I would dream… Ianto’s memories, I suppose.”  He stood up. “I better go.”

             Jack picked up the papers and pretended to read. “Yeah.”

             “Jack…” Ifan waited until Jack looked at him. “I’m not Ianto. I don’t know how I feel about you yet. At any level.”

             “I understand.”

             “But if I could fall in love with a man, I think it would be you.”


	8. Chapter 8

            “You’re thinking like a military man.”

             “And?”

             John sighed theatrically. “Ifan is too big an asset of these people to let go. Even if they can’t use him as originally planned, his DNA would be useful in speeding up the process for the next clone. How much would you bet against the proposition that they’re already looking for him?”

             “I don’t take sucker bets, John.”

             “Didn’t think you would. So, let’s review our options. We can’t ask the government for help; half is are probably in the Lazarus Corporation’s pocket and the other half is too pissed off at Torchwood Three because we’ve made them look like fools a few times.”

             The Doctor seemed eager to get into the game. “We can’t ask UNIT. Some of their current highest ranking officers were up in the Valiant during that year and there’s a good possibility that they could be in on it.”

              John nodded. “And we certainly can’t ask the idiots at Torchwood London. So that leaves us here. I’m willing to take your money on a bet that Lazarus’s labs are heavily protected.”

             “No bet. So…”

             “So the best way to get in would be for them to let us in.” 

             “And we do that how?”

             “Jack, start thinking like a conman.” John grinned nastily. “Look around you. Everyone in here is an outstanding citizen. Former police officers. Immortal hero. The Protector of the Earth. And then there’s me.”

             “You know, that has possibilities...” Jack grinned back equally nastily. “How do you want to go about it?”

             “They probably have us under surveillance. A little loud bitching and moaning to my favorite barkeeps about how fed up I am… Joining Torchwood just so I could have another chance with my former lover, convince him I’ve changed, and when he shows up it’s only because he has a chance with a goddamn duplicate of his old flame.” John laughed. “I can do it in my sleep. They’ll be waiving money and revenge under my nose in three days.”

             “And what happens when they do?” Ifan asked blandly.

             “I will  tell them that I can deliver not only you but also a great deal of information that could be useful to them.” He pointed at his wrist strap. “But only personally or no dice. I don’t trust underlings.”

             “And once you’re in…”

             “You’re in. If we move fast enough, they won’t know what hit them.”

             “You better get started, then. The rest of us have planning to do.”

              As he turned towards the cog door, John caught the Doctor studying him; the look in the Time Lord’s face told John exactly what the Doctor would not put into words.  After a moment, he nodded, accepting the unspoken sympathy. Then, whistling, he headed out.


	9. Chapter 9

             “Are you all right?”

             “Nothing a bandage and twelve hours in an alcoholic daze wouldn’t cure.” John pointed at one of the doors. “Kathy, that’s their security room. You’re our eyes and ears.”

             “Can do. I’ll spend some time looking at their set up, shall I? Might find a few interesting things.”

             “You do that,” John smirked. “Girls and their toys… Where are the others?”

             “Sweeping through the labs in the two floors below, why?”

             “Because I think it’s better if Ifan doesn’t se this. Come this way.”

             Jack and the Doctor followed him to a large set of double doors. John swiped a pass card through the security lock and pushed one of the doors open.

             “God… no amnesty this time, Doc.”

             “No, Jack.” The Doctor meandered among the vats. “Three, no, four generations before they hit the right sequences.”

             “It looks like Ifan was their first viable outcome,” John said, speaking through gritted teeth.

             “Time Lord DNA is remarkably unstable,” the Doctor said. “It has to do with the artron energy we pick up traveling through the Vortex. Jack…”

             “I want it all gone. All of it. And I want to talk to the… person… who did this.”

             “Sorry, Jack. He tried to get shirty with me and, well, you know me. I did grab his research,” John pulled out a microdrive and offered it to the Doctor. “Take this. I can’t think of a reason why, but you might need it some day. It shouldn’t be on Earth at all.”

             “Could there be other copies?”

             “Not according to Doctor Woolf. This was a very closely held secret. Just him, professor Docherty, and Lady Saxon. All the other research is absolutely as advertised. Helping the sick and the poor, and so on, and so on.”

             “All right. How do we get rid of this… obscenity?”

             “I can help with that.” Kathy’s voice sounded above them. “I’ve been looking at the building schematics. Since Dr. Woolf worked alone there were many pieces of apparatus on remote control.  The security people felt a bit uncomfortable, because Woolf seemed to have been rather haphazard about safety and he worked with very dangerous chemicals. See those canisters on the far wall? Very safe in their powder form but mix with water and… If you gentlemen spread the powder around I’ll turn on the taps at the lab sinks as we’re leaving.”

             “How much time would we have?”

             “Very little, Jack. Once water touches the powder, the building will go in minutes.”


	10. Chapter 10

“He warned me about you. He told me you would try to stop me.” Lucy Saxon cocked her head to one side. “But I have one more thing to put on the table.”

There’s nothing you can say…”

“Not to you. To Captain Harkness.”

The door at the far end of the room opened and a middle-aged woman walked in, holding the arm of a teenaged boy. Jack stared in disbelief and wild hope.

“It was very easy, Jack.” Lucy smiled at him. “All we needed was a small piece of his skin. You can have your grandson back. We even aged him to the age he would have been if he had lived. Your daughter won’t hate you any more. All you need to do is give us Ifan.”

He stared at her blankly, his mind racing, but all he could think of was not again, not again, not again…

“Before anyone gets too ridiculously self-sacrificing on me,” John said from his post by the door, “can I ask how Lady Saxon is going to finish the job? Her pet monster-maker is dead and his research is gone. There’s not a thing she can do to bring her husband back.”

“Unless she already has.” The Doctor whispered. “Oh, Jack, I am so sorry.”

“Doc?”

“Ifan was just bait to get us here, Jack. Steven was the intended recipient all along, wasn’t he, Lucy? You knew how guilty Jack felt about his grandson’s death. You hoped he would choose his grandson over Ifan, especially an Ifan contaminated with his torturer’s DNA. What better place for the Master to hide than in Jack Harkness’s family? Who would suspect?”

“Doc, please…” 

The soft voice continued in its relentless march. “But the TARDIS would have known, so she couldn’t be allowed to get near you.” He looked directly at the teenager. “How did you do that, by the way?”

“Professor Docherty assisted me in building a transmitter that would confuse the TARDIS’s hostile action displacement system. It thinks it’s being attacked, so it moves away. From your end it looks as if it’s being blocked.”

“Oh, that is very good…” The Doctor turned, sonic screwdriver pointed straight at Lucy. “Very good. But… not quite good enough.”

He was just a second too late. As he fired, Lucy threw herself backwards against the glass. Instead of breaking, the glass curved in around her and she was gone.

‘Doc, what the hell is going on?”

“The signet ring, Jack! She was wearing it, not him. And what did I tell you about undeveloped minds? Do you really think the Master could hide in the mind of a boy?”

“But Steven…”

“He’s going to need a lot of help, Jack. She’s been playing with his mind since he was taken out of the nutrient tank. But that’s your grandson. Carries your genes. He’ll bounce back."


	11. Chapter 11

            “I went to see Rhiannon and the family.”

             “How did they take it?”

             “Surprisingly well, all things considered. Gwen did a lot of preparation, so they knew what to expect, more or less. She’s agreed to help me with the memories.” Ifan sat down next to Jack. “Did… he… Ianto… spend time here?”

             “He liked to watch the ocean. Said it soothed him.”

             “That was a memory, then. Have you heard from Alice?”

             “She called this morning. Steven is doing very well. Australia suits them.” Jack smiled. “She invited me to visit next year. Give him some time to get his bearings, she said. But he asks about me.”

             “That’s brilliant. And you’re off to London?”

             “Yes. The Queen has asked me to take over and clean up the stables. Some of the boffins are less than happy, but they’ll live with it.”

             “Or they’ll spend their lives at her Majesty’s pleasure?”

             “She can be shockingly direct when it suits her.”

             “So are you taking over existing staff or are you hiring?”

             “Kathy’s moving over as soon as Mickey gets here to replace her. UNIT has agreed to put Martha on long-term loan to restructure the research labs.”

             “And John?”

             “He’s staying with Torchwood Three. Well, when he comes back from vacation.”

             “Where is he going?”

             “Hell if I know. The Doctor has invited him to travel for a while. Two weeks vacation from Torchwood Three, as much time as he wants to see the Universe.” Jack looked at Ifan out of the corner of his eye. “I need a personal assistant.”

             “I can do that. I also can be a butler and a guard dog.” He laughed. “Is that a memory too?”

             “A bit of one.” Jack sipped his coffee. “Won’t you want to stay in Cardiff?”

             “I don’t think so. Cardiff is overwhelming. Everything feels like… I should remember. I need a place where the memories are not so fresh.”

             “Ianto used to have nightmares about London.”

             Ifan leaned his head against the back rest of the bench. “All the memories that are surfacing… everything that means something… is about Cardiff. You. London seems a lot more distant. Second hand.”

             “They were probably interested in your memories only as they related to me. Sorry.”

             “It’s ok. Jack… some of the memories… I’m not Ianto. I’ll never be him, not really. But… if we take it slow… dinner, a movie?”

             “Are you asking me out on a date?”

             “Interested?”

             “Oh, yeah.”


	12. Chapter 12

          “What was that all about?”

             “Kathy straightened out my papers.”

             Jack frowned. “Papers?”

             “Driver’s licence, passport, credit cards, sundry legal items. She was very thorough. Somebody ought to tell the NHS that their computer security sucks.” He offered them to Jack. “Now you can hire me properly.”

             “Ifan Owain Jones?”

             “Rhiannon picked out the middle name. Great-grandfather. She says that way we can think of me as her cousin from Holyhead.”

             “Is that all right with you?”

             “Yes. It helps her cope. She’s been great about this,” he pointed at his temple. “I don’t want to cause her more pain.”

             “Ian… Ifan. About London.”

             “You’re going to rescind your offer?”

             “No! God, no!” Jack reached out impulsively but pulled back before making contact. “I’m going to need all the help I can get. It’s about living arrangements.”

             “I was planning to go flat hunting next week. Kathy has advanced me some funds… Ianto’s savings went to Rhiannon and she’s set up a trust fund for the kids’ education. I wouldn’t change that, even if I wanted to claim the money, which I don’t.”

             “I have another option. For all of us, not just you and me. A long time ago I bought a place in Wapping, by the river. I don’t even remember why, now. Sometimes in the nineties I was approached by two young guys. They were remodeling old places, turning them into luxury flats.  They didn’t have much money, but a lot of ambition. I traded them the building in exchange for two flats. They jumped at the chance. They’ve been using them as short-term, very expensive tourist rentals, but when I called them earlier they said we could move in immediately. They also have another flat for Kathy, if she wants it.”

             “Wouldn’t it be a security risk? All of us in one place.”

             “The little company is a monster these days. Fourteen or fifteen buildings scattered all along the river. We wouldn’t even need to see each other after hours if we didn’t want to.” Jack grinned. “You can have the one with the boat slip. You always said…” Catching himself, he turned away. “Sorry. I’m so sorry.”

             “Jack.” The touch on Jack’s shoulder was brief and light, but it was there. “It’s going to happen. Don’t beat yourself up about it. And I’ll accept the offer, with one condition.”

             “Name it.”

             “Let’s go shopping for a boat.”

 


End file.
